Kathie Bracy's Blog

A forum for Ohio educators, sharing thoughts regarding their health care and pension system (STRS Ohio). Researcher John Curry manages a clearinghouse of related e-mails, articles, announcements, etc. His daily mailings include many items that do not make it to this blog. Contact John (curryfeezer@yahoo.com) if you wish to be on his e-mail list. Kathie Bracy: kbb47@aol.com.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Charter Schools cause another problem for a public school

From John Curry, July 24, 2011

Eastern School board members Ken Kelch and Martin Yockey, I agree with you guys 100%.......but, why is it that your counterparts on hundreds of other Ohio school boards and their respective superintendents don't have the courage to speak out like you two do? Martin and Ken, welcome to an Ohio world where the campaign contributions of people like David Brennan (White Hat schools) and William Lager (Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow [ECOT] schools) speak louder than does the truth. Public schools are prohibited from making campaign contributions, aren't they?

John

"I never understand why they keep doing this, but for years and years they've been giving money to charter schools and it's a proven fact it doesn't work," Yockey said. "They're not living up to the public schools."

~ Martin Yockey

"If we wanted to sell Sardinia school now, we'd have to sell it to a charter school that is in competition with us and doesn't have to dance to the same tune we do."

The Eastern Local School district is keeping a balanced budget, though they are keeping an eye on the changing debates in Columbus. At a recent Eastern board of education meeting, treasurer Kevin Kendall said Eastern's revenue is currently higher than their expenditures, which puts the district in a better position to deal with possible cuts as Ohio legislators consider changing the funding formula for local schools.

"They're trying to come up with a funding formula that is equitable to everyone, but it's a big challenge," Kendall said. "We're going through again and they're modifying the formula. They're going through some difficult times and there are difficult times ahead."

"We have revenues exceeding our expenditures overall," Kendall said. "I thought that was a positive because we just about doubled our cash balance."

Kendall said while the district is keeping a close eye on Columbus, they are currently in a good position to deal with additional cuts to school funding.

"We've positioned ourselves to manage and get through these tough times," Kendall said.

Board of Education member Ken Kelch said the state needs to focus more on public schools. Kelch brought an article from a recent Ohio School Board Association newsletter that stated differences between public and charter schools.

"According to the Ohio Department of Education, 40.1 percent of Ohio charter schools are failing, whereas only 1.5 percent of public schools are in academic emergency or watch," Kelch said.

Kelch said the state of Ohio has gone through great pains to make sure charter schools succeed. According to the article, public schools traditionally spend $11,371 per graduating student, compared to $29,175 in charter schools. In the 2009-2010 school year, the graduation rate for public schools was 84.3 percent.

Kelch asked if charter schools have as much difficulty of obtaining funding as public schools.

"I just thought, do they have to dance to the same tune that we do?" Kelch said. "You look at this stuff and you keep reading this stuff and I just want to know why they keep doing this. We've been on this trend for quite some time. I don't have a problem letting your children go to school wherever you feel they can get the best education, but my tax dollars go to fund these charter schools, and they don't have to dance to the same tune that we do."

Kelch pointed out legislation that seems to prefer charter schools, and noted if the district were trying to sell the old Sardinia school building, they would likely have to sell to a charter school in competition with the Eastern School district.

"If we wanted to sell Sardinia school now, we'd have to sell it to a charter school that is in competition with us and doesn't have to dance to the same tune we do."

Kelch questioned why the state promotes charter schools when they post a much higher failure rate than public schools, and noted public schools lose money with each student attending a charter school.

"That's a big portion of why public schools are having such trouble now," Kelch said. "Cincinnati Public Schools lost over 6,000 students and $5,000 some per student."

Board member Martin Yockey agreed.

"I never understand why they keep doing this, but for years and years they've been giving money to charter schools and it's a proven fact it doesn't work," Yockey said. "They're not living up to the public schools."

The next Eastern board of education meeting will be 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16.

About Me

A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Baylor University School of Music, I am a professional symphony musician by background. I am also a retired elementary classroom teacher (nonmusic), having taught in the Alliance (OH) City Schools 2-1/2 years and the Columbus Public Schools 30 years. My first job was as harp instructor at The University of Texas; currently I am a Lecturer in Harp at The University of Mount Union. As a retired educator and a life member of a number of professional organizations, including the Ohio Retired Teachers Association and the Ohio Education Association-Retired, I also worked through CORE (Concerned Ohio Retired Educators, which officially disbanded 9/20/12) to help bring about badly needed reform in our teachers retirement system, STRS Ohio. My e-mail: kbb47@aol.com.